Various hand-held devices for capturing sidestream smoke and/or exhaled cigarette smoke are available, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,790,332 and 4,993,435 describe hand-held cigarette smoking devices and smoker's accessories which provide for positioning of a lit cigarette in the unit where sidestream smoke emanating from the lit cigarette is captured within the unit. These devices require that the cigarette be lit externally of the unit then positioned within it to continue smoking. Usually the process of lighting the cigarette releases very little sidestream smoke before it is inserted in the unit, however, there may be situations where even lighting a cigarette in the open may not be appropriate.
Various designs have been contemplated to light the cigarette within the unit, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,518. The cigarette combustion chamber is provided with an access port to permit insertion of a match or lighter flame to light the cigarette within the device. U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,791 contemplates the use of a flameless lighter which can be located in the device to direct a hot stream of gases at the end of a cigarette within the unit to ignite the cigarette. Such device generally requires a source of fuel and an ignition catalyst with some means for bringing the fuel and catalyst into contact when it is desired to light the cigarette. The fuel cell may have a pump with an ignition module where the fuel cell is activated by depressing a switch and then releasing it after the cigarette is lit. Normally the fuel cell would be positioned in a manner to direct the hot stream of gases to within the cigarette tube which houses the cigarette to be lit. It is generally understood that such devices are comparatively large and usually require refueling.
In applicant's published international application WO 97/41744 published Nov. 13, 1997, an improved system for a hand-held smoker's device for sidestream smoke control is described. The device provides for a cigarette combustion chamber, a sidestream smoke filter chamber, a plenum for conducting sidestream smoke from a lit cigarette in the combustion chamber into the sidestream smoke filtration chamber, an electric fan for drawing sidestream smoke from the combustion chamber through the plenum and into the sidestream smoke filtration chamber and as well a controller for the fan operation. It is contemplated in the published application that a cigarette lighter to light a cigarette in the combustion chamber may be incorporated into the unit without increasing the overall size of the unit. A "press and hold" button may be used to cause an element to glow and thereby light the cigarette where the internal lighter may be mounted on adjustable brackets to allow the use of different cigarette lengths. Applicant has now developed an on-board cigarette lighter which functions in a surprisingly superior manner compared to the prior art devices as well as that contemplated in the above PCT application.
Accordingly, it is an object of an aspect of the invention to provide an on-board cigarette lighter which provides for "foolproof" operation, ensures lighting of the cigarette and provides for manual position adjustment of the filament within the combustion tube by way of the use of a detent.